Victims and self-help groups from across the country gathered in front of the legislature yesterday in a protest that urged the government to recognize the harm caused to the public by extremely low frequency (ELF) and electromagnetic radiation.
Tseng Pi-ching (曾碧清), a woman in a wheelchair, said she has been suffering from leukemia since 1994 after 11 years working as a cartographer for long hours in an office exposed to electromagnetic radiation at the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp.
Eight other workers at the company aged between 29 and 38 had also been diagnosed with leukemia, she said.
After years of failed attempts to file for occupational accident compensation from the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), the Taipei High Administrative Court eventually ruled that Tseng’s illness was indeed an occupational accident caused by a harmful work environment.
Tseng said she joined the protest because she doesn’t want any more people to have to work in the same situation.
CARCINOGENIC
Taiwan Electromagnetic Radiation Hazard Protection and Control Association (TEPCA) founder and chairperson Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) expressed the hope that government agencies would at least recognize that electromagnetic radiation is capable of causing cancer and take stricter precautionary measures against the possible harm to the public.
The group made the appeal ahead of a public hearing at the legislature to discuss such issues.
The public hearing, held by the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, discussed issues pertaining to environmental impact, cancer prevention, public nuisance control and administrative regulation of ELF and electromagnetic radiation.
EXPOSURE LIMITS
Two main issues discussed at the hearing were whether long-term ELF exposure has an effect on health, what the limit of exposure should be and how administrative regulation, drafted by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), should be amended.
The reference level for exposure to ELF suggested by the EPA is 833mG, but TEPCA along with academics and doctors at the hearing said that was based on guidelines set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) for transient or very short-term peak fields and that it should not be used to regulate long-term exposure.
They urged a limitation of 2mG for long-term exposure to ELF, the same level allowable at the workplaces of government agencies.
REFERENCE LEVEL
According to a written report provided to the legislature by the EPA, the ICNIRP modified the reference level from 833mG to 2,000mG last year.
Asked whether the EPA would raise the reference level, Department of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control Director-General Hsieh Yein-rui (謝燕儒) said the agency had no intention to do so.
According to the latest amendments to the Telecommunications Act (電信法) and the Power Industry Act (電業法), high-voltage pylons and high-voltage sub-stations cannot be constructed within a certain distance of schools and hospitals, Hsieh said.
He said the agency would seek the advice of specialists and further consider how far the distance should be and whether to amend the regulations.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
RSS